Centre told to respond to plea on online child sexual abuse material

A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran issued notices to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Law and Justice on the plea.

The development comes in the wake of undercover reports alleging that paid advertisements promoting such illegal content appeared on major online platforms.

The Supreme Court had earlier held that the possession or viewing of CSEAM constitutes a serious offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The court had also ruled that digital intermediaries cannot claim safe harbour protection if they fail to act against child sexual abuse material hosted or circulated through their platforms.

The Bench also permitted JRCA to move an application seeking the impleadment of intermediaries in the proceedings. JRCA is a civil society network comprising more than 250 NGOs working against child sexual exploitation, child trafficking and child marriage.

The application was filed following a BBC report that alleged Instagram had carried paid advertisements promoting CSEAM, raising concerns about compliance with the Supreme Court’s earlier directions as well as the statutory obligations of digital intermediaries.